SHOCKING footage shows the moment cops told a van driver he had killed a Team GB athlete when he crashed into her.
Rebecca Comins, 52, was riding on a clear sunny day with a flashing light attached to her bike when the tragedy unfolded.
But the mum-of-two was sent flying through the air after Vasile Barbu struck her from behind on a dual carriageway.
Rebecca had been taking part in a time trial cycling race organised by local club Monmouthshire Wheelers at the time of the fatal smash.
Tragically her son George, who was also taking part in the June 2022 event, learned she had died on his way to the hospital.
Barbu was jailed for four years after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
Now, new police footage that has emerged shows Barbu’s reaction to the horror.
Video featured in the BBC‘s The Crash Detectives revealed how Barbu put his head in his hands and appearing to weep after being informed Rebecca had died at the scene.
He is then placed under arrest and is put into a police vehicle.
But when he is later interviewed at a local police station, he is seen denying any careless driving.
An officer asks Barbu: “Are you responsible for careless driving today?”
“I don’t think I am, no,” the courier responds, despite Rebecca’s tragic death.
He said: “I see it [the cyclist]. I give her space. I take myself around… to pass her. And I heard a knock.”
Barbu told officers that he believed at the time that this sound was simply one of the parcels in his vehicle falling.
At the time, Rebecca wore a dark-coloured helmet and navy blue clothing, and contrasting with the light-coloured surface of the concrete road, had a bright orange race number on her back.
Barbu had by this point left his home in Abergavenny, and was driving his fully-loaded Vauxhall Movano van on the same section of road.
Barbu then failed to manoeuvre around Rebecca just moments after he “buzzed” another biker while passing.
Following his arrest, the driver was unable to explain how the collision took place and told police he gave the athlete a two-metre gap.
The court heard he accepted he must have collided with Rebecca and admitted causing death by careless driving.
Sentencing, a judge told him: “You could very easily have moved to the outside lane to overtake her as other drivers had.
“You could, and should, have given her far more space. You could, and should, have given yourself far more time.”
Rebecca, known as Becky, had represented Great Britain in both European and world championships.
She came ninth in the 2018 Tartu ETU Triathlon European Championships, and 30th in the 2019 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final Lausanne.
At the time of her death, she was the Vintage Veteran Champion of the Welsh Triathlon Super Series.
Rebecca had also represented Wales the weekend before the crash.
